1/13/2017

uh, when did we hop in bed with the c.i.a.

The Deep State Goes to War with President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Dems Cheer

275 replies1,621 retweets1,712 likes

that is what's happening right now.

i was on the phone with mike and we were talking about this and how no 1 seems to bothered by this interference and, really, effort at blatant blackmail.

after we got off the phone, i went to glenn's twitter feed and saw this (been a busy week, i see he's pinned it so he's probably had it up for awhile but i haven't had a lot of time to read online this week).

i called mike back and told him but he's about to post and said for me to use it.

so donald trump won't play ball with the 'intel' guys and gals.

and their response is try to take him down with this b.s.

when the hell did we on the left decide that the c.i.a. was our friend?

it is not our friend.

it will never be our friend.

it is a disgusting agency that has abused people around the world as well as here at home.

it is past time for the intell community to be challenged by the congress that controls its budget.

i am disgusted with idiots who have never read the pike report or the church committee report who are giddy over what the c.i.a. is currently doing.

Friday, January 13, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, the Canadian
government won't answer to whether or not their soldiers receiving
treatment in Iraq were injured in battle, when do we ever arrive at what
passes for 'victory' and much more.

More and more, I think what any occupant of the White House needs is a
car with twin 11-year-olds in the backseat, bored, hopped up on Monster
and kicking the seat in front of them while repeatedly asking, "Are we
there yet? Are we there yet?"

Are we there yet?

That's one of the most important questions that president-elect Donald
Trump will face once he's sworn in as President of the United States.

And someone needs desperately to define where ''there" is.

The Iraq War, or at least this century's installment, started in March of 2003.

Two months shy of 14 years, the war continues and US troops are still engaged in it -- from the air and on the ground.

As a point of reference, WWI and WWII did not last as long -- did not last as long combined.

1) Victory in Mosul does not mean the ISIS threat is over.2) Young democracies like Iraq are not the place for strongmen.3) Reconstruction must address the longterm needs of the Iraqi people.4) Iraq's ability to secure its future is limited by serious economic shortcomings.

I warned it was coming over and over, day after day and week after week
while 'smart' people either ignored what was coming or insisted
everything was fine.

Sunnis are persecuted in Iraq.

Stop persecuting them.

Long before the Islamic State took root we were the only ones, here at
this website, just us, pointing out the very strange issue around prison
breaks: Prisoners weren't being caught.

Why not?

Because they were usually Sunni and the local residents protected and hid them.

Why?

Because of the persecution taking place in Iraq.

It was so bad that escapees could be hidden.

The Islamic State wanted power -- somewhere, anywhere.

They made Iraq a focus because Sunnis were persecuted.

And that's why they either got support from Sunnis or the Sunni reaction
was: This is between the government that persecutes us and ISIS, it's
not my battle.

If you missed that sentiment, you missed a whole lot.

And if you can't acknowledge it today, you are a dumb ass contributing dumb assery and no one really needs you at this point.

Maya Mailer (INDEPENDENT) reports:“Isis is like a mushroom.
It was able to grow here, in Iraq, because there is a fertile
environment. It didn’t just come from nowhere.” That is what one Iraqi
activist told me, with an edge of anger and passion in her voice, when I
was in Iraq late last year. She went on to say that Isis could not be –
and should not be – eradicated through bombs and fighting. Instead,
Iraq desperately needed to embark on a national programme of
reconciliation and reform.“Isis is like a mushroom.
It was able to grow here, in Iraq, because there is a fertile
environment. It didn’t just come from nowhere.” That is what one Iraqi
activist told me, with an edge of anger and passion in her voice, when I
was in Iraq late last year. She went on to say that Isis could not be –
and should not be – eradicated through bombs and fighting. Instead,
Iraq desperately needed to embark on a national programme of
reconciliation and reform.

If that's shocking or surprising to you, then let me join you in shock and surprise.

Where the hell have you been?

June 19, 2014, even President Barack Obama stated that the only solution to Iraq's crises was a political solution.

He said that.

And then did nothing to help there.

He started dropping bombs on Iraq.

He put "boots on the ground."

He surged the military.

He just didn't surge the diplomacy.

For the record, it's the same failure Bully Boy Bush made earlier.

Also for the record, we repeatedly made that point throughout 2014 and 2015 and 2016.

But nothing was done.

And there's no reconciliation in Iraq still.

There's no effort to end the persecution.

So defeat ISIS with the military and you haven't defeated anything.

They'll regroup or something else will replace them.

The Mosul slog continues.

It's 88 days since the operation began.

Mosul was seized by the Islamic State in June of 2014.

88 days ago, the liberation or 'liberation' effort began.

The International Organization of Migration notes:Nearly 13 weeks into the Mosul military operation against the Islamic
State (ISIL) – which began on 17 October – over 144,500 Iraqis are
currently displaced. The majority are in desperate need of life-saving
humanitarian assistance, especially in the cold winter weather and rain.

According to IOM Iraq’s Displaced Tracking Matrix (DTM) the
displacement count from 17 October through 12 January stands at 144,588
people. The latest Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Emergency Tracking
figures on displacement from Mosul operations are available at: http://iraqdtm.iom.int/EmergencyTracking.aspx

This is what success looks like?

THE CANADIAN PRESS reports:National Defence is refusing to disclose details about several
Canadian soldiers treated at a military hospital in northern Iraq in
recent weeks, including whether any of them were wounded on the
battlefield.The soldiers were among 120 patients who were seen at
the medical facility since it began operating near the Kurdish city of
Erbil at the end of November, according to figures provided to The
Canadian Press.

Again, the question, this is what success looks like?

This morning, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in IraqAttack, bomber and fighter aircraft and rocket artillery
conducted eight strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of
Iraq’s government:-- Near Haditha, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.-- Near Mosul, nine strikes engaged five ISIL tactical units;
destroyed five vehicles, three mortar systems, two unmanned aircraft
launch sites, three fighting positions, a rocket-propelled grenade
launcher, a vehicle bomb manufacturing and armoring facility, a heavy
machine gun, a supply cache and an anti-air artillery system; and
damaged 18 supply routes and two bridges.-- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and
destroyed a vehicle, a command-and-control node and a weapons storage
facility.-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed a mortar system.-- Near Tal Afar, three strikes destroyed a vehicle, a vehicle bomb facility and an unmanned aircraft launch site.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic
events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a
single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a
single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle
is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons
against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for
example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or
impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not
report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number
of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual
munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in
counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a
strike.

It's past time someone in charge was able to answer the question of "Are we there yet?" with something more than "Not yet."